Albert "Eddie" Taishoff was not really a quiet man. At family gatherings and parties he always seemed to inhabit the periphery, never the center.

However, if you were to ask him about any era of Asian or European history, it would be advisable to find a comfortable chair, so that Ed could keep up your interest level for the next hour or so. Other favorite topics were American history, hockey, the Washington Senators and in later years, his grandchildren.

Ed was my wife Lorraine's brother.

Ed passed away April 18 after an up and down bout with lymphoma. After knowing him as a brother-in-law and debating him for 40 years, I learned so much more about his life and times at his funeral and graveside interment.

My own father had a Yiddish saying which pertained to Ed's funeral. "One has to be lucky, even when you die." Had Ed died on a Wednesday, the Jewish custom would be to bury him on Friday, and it would be difficult for people to leave work and attend. Because he died on a Thursday the burial was on Sunday. On that Sunday there was an outpouring of love, affection and admiration that I never suspected.

All his friends, companions, his two families and his adopted children and grandchildren came to pay their love to this not so quiet, quiet man.

Ed was a journalist. He worked for a magazine of the steel industry and finally for the Voice of America. The US Army sent him to the Monterey Language School to learn Russian (the language of his parents). When he graduated, they promptly sent him to serve in the Philippine Islands.

Ed loved Philippine culture and the Philippine people. He married Merle, a Philippine woman who had three children from a prior marriage. He adopted these children as his own and loved them and cared for them until the day he died. The Jewish customs and the Philippine customs blended beautifully together.

At the open casket, his children gathered around Eddie. They kissed him and wailed with grief. They placed family pictures in his vest pocket while shedding tears of sadness and love. I have always stayed away from open caskets but each culture has its own meaningful aspects.

The graveside speeches were astonishing. One of his Philippino family said, "I am a Moslem but I loved and admired this Jew." His friends came. Many acquaintances arrived and I never realized the full, caring life he had lived and the effect that he had on people. They just loved him!

The quiet man was laid to rest and I felt cheated because I wanted to ask him a question about the Washington Senators baseball team.

Albert Edward Taishoff (1932-2002) was gone but certainly not forgotten.